That the police officer was white and his victim black
should make no difference. In a perfect world, it would not matter. In an
imperfect world such as ours, however, racism is an effective propaganda tool
used by the government and the media to distract us from the real issues.

As a result, the national dialogue about the dangers of
militarized, weaponized police officers being trained to act like soldiers on
the battlefield, shooting first and asking questions later, has shifted into a
largely unspoken debate over race wars, class perceptions and longstanding,
deep-seated notions of who deserves our unquestioning loyalty and who does not.

And the greater question--whether anything will really change
to rein in militarized police, police shootings, lack of accountability and
oversight, and a military industrial complex with a vested interest in turning
America into a war zone--remains unanswered.

Ferguson matters because it provides us with a foretaste of
what is to come. It is the shot across the bow, so to speak, a warning that
this is how we will all be treated if we do not tread cautiously in challenging
the police state, and it won't matter whether we're black or white, rich or
poor, Republican or Democrat. In the eyes of the corporate state, we are all
the enemy.

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This is the lesson of Ferguson, that "we the people" are the
enemy. As I point out in my book A
Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, since those
first towers fell on 9/11, the American people have been treated like enemy
combatants, to be spied on, tracked, scanned, frisked, searched, subjected to
all manner of intrusions, intimidated, invaded, raided, manhandled, censored,
silenced, shot at, locked up, and denied due process.

There was a moment of hope after Ferguson that perhaps
things might change. Perhaps the balance would be restored between the
citizenry and their supposed guardians, the police. Perhaps our elected
officials would take our side for a
change and oppose the militarization of the police. Perhaps warfare would take
a backseat to more pressing national concerns.

That hope was short-lived.

It wasn't long before the media moved on to other, more
titillating stories.

It wasn't long before the American public, easily acclimated
to news of government wrongdoing, ceased to be shocked, outraged or alarmed by
reports of police shootings.

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And with nary a hiccup, the police state marched steadily
forth. In fact, it has been business as usual in terms of police shootings, the
amassing of military weapons, and the government's sanctioning of police
misconduct.

Rubbing salt in our wounds, in the wake of Ferguson, police
agencies not only continued to ramp up their military arsenals but have used
them whenever possible.

John W. Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. Whitehead's aggressive, pioneering approach to civil liberties has earned him numerous accolades and (more...)